A solitary penalty converted by Wayne Rooney on his first start since his injury was enough to give Manchester United a 1-0 at Ibrox. Rangers were once again set up to avoid defeat but the late breakthrough ensured that United qualify from Group C and now need only a point or a low scoring defeat in their final game home to Valencia to cement first place.

Starts for Rooney and Giggs in particular were welcome sights for United after periods on the sidelines. Smalling and Evans were given a rare chance to impress as Vidic and Ferdinand were rested and left back in Manchester. Rarer still, Evra was given a night off allowing Fabio the opportunity to showcase his talents.

The last match between these two sides yielded few positives. Antonio Valencia suffered a horrific injury that will keep him sidelined until February at the earlier. The fixture could not even provide entertainment with the match ending in a dull goalless draw; meaning Manchester United had to settle for a solitary point at Old Trafford. But when United travel to Ibrox on Wednesday, a point will be all United needs to advance to the knock-out round for the fifth consecutive season.

A dull Champions League opening day disappointing stalemate was surpassed by the heartbreak of Antonio Valencia’s terrible injury. Glasgow Rangers not only parked the team bus but also that of the supporters’ as they demonstrated the most remarkable lack of intent and ambition – showing far less integrity for the competition than Sir Alex Ferguson’s ten changes for the hosts did.

Rangers come to Old Trafford to open the Champions League campaign this year. As always being drawn with a Scottish team throws up the ‘Battle of Britain’ catchphrase. United will be eager to put the bitter disappointment of Goodison behind and will welcome back a fired up Wayne Rooney – Rangers have a 100% start to their own season and will have other ideas.

The last time Manchester United wrestled the title away from Chelsea, they opened their Champions League campaign against the Scottish champions at Old Trafford. Four years have passed since that last England/Scotland clash and identity of the opponents are the other of the Old Firm – the behaviour of the Rangers supporters in Manchester city centre in 2008 means that they will not exactly be welcome visitors on Tuesday evening.

In the second of our Euro Trips blogs, I caught up with Dan Burdett again to discuss his thoughts on our Scottish rivals.